Wartime London

After being summoned by Winston Churchill the TARDIS materialises in the Cabinet War Rooms during the Second World War. The Doctor and Amy Pond are greeted by the Prime Minister who recognises The Doctor as they recount some of their past experiences. He also informs The Doctor that he had called for assistance a month ago.

Winston Churchill then uses a Luftwaffe squadron, approaching London, to demonstrate to The Doctor his latest weapon. As the squadron comes into view over Blitz-torn London, they are shot down by energy weapons fired with amazing precision. The weapons used is revealed to be controlled by Ironsides, designed by Professor Edwin Bracewell, a Scottish scientist. The Doctor though instantly recognises the green coloured Union Flag-wearing Ironside is in reality a Dalek…

Despite The Doctor's protests about the Daleks' being deadly, Professor Bracewell insists that he invented them and they are docile and readily willing to perform menial tasks such as serving tea. With Winston Churchill defending them, and only thinking of the victories he could have, The Doctor becomes more frustrated at not being able to convince anyone how dangerous the Daleks. He even asks Amy to tell Winston Churchill about the Dalek’s invasion of the Earth in her past. The Doctor though is visibly unnerved when Amy has no recollection of the incident and can give no reason why she would have missed them.

Winston Churchill

Intent on proving that the seemingly obedient Daleks' are pure evil, and can not be trusted, The Doctor interrogates Professor Bracewell and learns that the Daleks are one of several of his futuristic inventions. In desperation The Doctor resorts to repeatedly striking a Dalek with a heavy spanner and goads the Dalek by recalling his battles with them. The Doctor finally exclaims ‘I am The Doctor and you are the Daleks!’. The Dalek finally acknowledges this sentence by revealing its true identity and reverting to its true personality. The Dalek then repeats The Doctor’s last words and announces it has transmitted this ‘testimony’ to a Dalek saucer orbiting the Earth while all the other Daleks turn hostile – so proving The Doctor correct. Professor Bracewell protests claiming he created the Daleks. But One of the Daleks shoots his hand, leaving only exposed wiring, revealing Professor Bracewell to be an android. The Daleks then reveal that they are his creator, and teleport away. heir creator.

Curious as to what the Daleks meant by wanting his ‘testimony’ The Doctor rushes back to the TARDIS, telling Amy to stay behind as where he is going is too dangerous. Amy tries to protest, by pointing out that he is leaving her in a war-torn London, but The Doctor enters the TARDIS without her anyway.

Bracewell's Ironside

The TARDIS materialises in the Dalek ship. The Doctor pretends to be brandishing a TARDIS self-destruct control so that the Daleks do not exterminate him. The Daleks reveal that one ship survived the destruction of the Dalek race and that it went after the last remaining Progenator Device, a capsule containing pure Dalek DNA, from which the Dalek race could be rebuilt. The Doctor figures out that they built Professor Bracewell because the Progenator Device did not recognise them as Dalek, since these Daleks were grown from Davros' DNA. The Daleks then allowed themselves to become part of the British army knowing that Winston Churchill would lure The Doctor to them so giving them the opportunity for The Doctor to confirm them as Daleks. The Progenator would then accept this as proof, because The Doctor is the Daleks' greatest enemy.

The Daleks then tell The Doctor to leave, or they will destroy London but The Doctor, convinced that they do not have that power, refuses. The Daleks then fire a ray turning all of London's lights on, rendering London's blackout efforts ineffective so making the city an easy target to another incoming squadron of Luftwaffe bombers. With no way of switching the lights off Amy and Winston Churchill realise they can use Professor Bracewell to fight back against the Daleks. After stopping him from committing suicide, they convince him to help them send some modified Spitfires, equipped with Dalek laser cannons and anti-gravity technology, to attack the Dalek saucer.

Meanwhile, the Progenator completes its process, and creates a ‘new paradigm’ consisting of 5 ‘pure’ Daleks (identified as a ‘Scientist’, ‘Strategist’, ‘Drone’, ‘The Eternal’ and ‘The Supreme’). These pure Daleks are larger, more imposing, and more powerful than their predecessors who willingly offer themselves for extermination.

Trying to Reason With Churchill

The Daleks discover The Doctor has not really got a self-destruct device, just as the Spitfires begin their attack. Assisted by The Doctor, who has returned to the TARDIS, the Spitfires destroy the Dalek transmitter. But this only prompts the Daleks to use an ‘oblivion continuum’ bomb, concealed inside Professor Bracewell, to destroy the Earth.

This forces The Doctor to rush back to Earth, in order to stop the detonation. On arrival back in the Cabinet War Rooms he reveals the bomb inside Professor Bracewell. He also realises that the only way to stop the bomb from exploding is to convince Professor Bracewell that he is a human, not a bomb. He tries to remind the Professor of all his memories and how they hurt, but he cannot seem to stop the countdown. As the Oblivion Continuum approaches detonation, Amy steps in and asks Professor Bracewell if he has ever fancied someone he shouldn't. While dwelling on this, the countdown retreats to zero, cancelling the detonation.

With the threat to Earth over The Doctor realises his act to save Earth has resulted in him being too late to stop the Daleks from escaping. For a few moments, he feels that he has lost, but Amy reminds him that he has saved the Earth.

After bidding farewell to Winston Churchill, and his staff, The Doctor is puzzled and worried as to why Amy does not remember the Daleks from their previous attack over London or the Medusa Cascade incident. As the TARDIS dematerialises, another crack in the universe is revealed in the wall behind where the TARDIS stood.